California reports population decline

California’s population fell by more than 182,000 people in 2020, marking the first yearover-year loss ever recorded for the most populous U.S. state. State officials announced Friday that California’s population dipped 0.46 per cent to just under 39.5 million people from January 2020 to January 2021. The state’s four most populated cities — Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose and San Francisco — lost a combined 88,000 people. L.A. dropped the most at nearly 52,000 and has now lost about 75,000 people in the past three years to fall to an overall population of just over 3.9 million. More people left California for other states than moved there, continuing a trend for decades that has prompted criticism of the state’s high taxes and progressive politics. But state officials say 2020 was an anomaly as the pandemic halted international immigration and killed 51,000 people.